Remember that all individual assessed submissions must be your own work. Plagiarism is a serious assessment offence, covered by the University's regulations and explained in the Handbook for students. It is subject a range of possible penalties. The University expects postgraduate studenst to fully understand what constitutes plagiarism, and considers that students at this level have no excuse for committing this serious offence. So the penalty applied to any postgraduate student found guilty of plagiarism is, at the very least, FAIL in ALL modules taken during the semester in which the offence took place. For a repeated offence, the penalty could include dismissal from the University without an award.
I am not willing to give my consent for a student to gain credit towards a qualification if I strongly suspect that they have engaged in plagiarism. I believe that this would undermine the value of awards from this University, so jeopardising the future of all students. I submit all work to the plagiarism detection program, TurnitinUK. This compares a student's work with anything held in the database including:
If I find that a student has plagiarised, I report them for that offence.
So I urge all students to familiarise themselves with the regulations on this, and also with the guidance given through the online resources indicated below.
UK sources
Plagiarism - online resources at University of the West of England
Plagiarism - online resources at University of Essex
Guide notes on plagiarism - online resources at University of Birmingham
US sources
Avoiding Plagiarism - at Purdue University
Avoiding Plagiarism - at Hamilton College, USA
Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It - at Indiana University
Avoiding Plagiarism: Mastering the Art of Scholarship -at University of California, Davis
How to avoid plagiarism - at NorthWestern University